20050514..May 14, 2005...Official Check in Disney's 1st 14 Day thru Panama Canal

[JenKatt]

Originally posted by ivanova
The Curacao dive with dolphins is limited to people that are dive certified (if you're already dive certified then cool; otherwise too expensive IMHO) and they limit the dive with dolphins to TWO people per dive team not to mention it's probably pricey

Well considering that I'm looking at my dive cert right now, that's not an issue. The cost isn't that bad, it's comparable with Disney's DiveQuest, just no Cast Discount

 

[RickW]

OK, so I just finished doing some work (telecommuting, and yes I do know what time it is, thank you very much). And before I head up to bed, I thought I would add something useless to this thread.

So, I present
The top 5 reasons the Westbound cruise is better than the Eastbound

5. We are less likely to get hit by a hurricane
4. We're First!!!
3. When we say what month we are crusing in, we don't have to answer the question "Which Year?"
2. We get to check-in at the DCL terminal.
1. Everyone knows that the adventurous "Go West"



Sorry, it's really late and that didn't turn out nearly as funny as I'd hoped...

But, it did take me a good minute and a half to come up with it, so I'm posting it anyway.

 

[jin diesel]

Robin will you go to WDW while you're in Florida??.

I was thinking the same thing about the luggage and the money. We started a "savings jar". Everytime we think about going to out to eat - we a put a couple of dollars in the jar and eat at home. We normally eat out about 3 times a week, so I imagine we will save A LOT by March of next year when all the ca$h is due. I hope, anyway!!! *fingers crossed*

 

[moocow35]

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[ennisb]

Figured I should stop lurking and add ourselves to the list. It's all booked now to keep our fingers crossed that work does not prevent me from taking the trip


Room 8574 - Late seating
DW, DS (15), DD (12), and me

 

[JenKatt]

Jeff and I have two large jars, the bottles to water coolers type things. We started filling them before our cruise last year and wound up with about $600 for the cruise in spending money. We'll probably pull out about the same amount for our October cruise and leave the rest for the this cruise. All loose change goes in there and while it's a pain to roll it all up (Coinstar takes a percentage that we don't want to give up) it's a great way to save money. Getting coins out of the jars is a pain in the neck...

 

[ivanova]

Originally posted by RickW
So, I present: The top 5 reasons the Westbound cruise is better than the Eastbound

5. We are less likely to get hit by a hurricane
4. We're First!!!
3. When we say what month we are crusing in, we don't have to answer the question "Which Year?"
2. We get to check-in at the DCL terminal.
1. Everyone knows that the adventurous "Go West"

A couple of comments....

5. If we have to skirt a hurricane, maybe that will make our cruise LONGER (always thinking positive here)
4. All the bumps will be ironed out and our cruise will be perfect
3. That won't last much longer
2. Ah, but we get to DISEMBARK at the DCL terminal ... the CA terminals are not built to handle DCL disembarkation (which is easy & painless compared to other cruise lines) ... so disembarking in San Pedro may be long, tedious, and not all that pleasant.
1. This is one adventurer that's "been there, done that" and looking forward to a "go East" vacation

 

[kaylin]

Robin: We live near Ft. Myers, quite a bit south from where you will be! We own land in Suwanee county though, (not too far from where you will be), and its always less humid than where we live. We have had thunderstorms about every day about 3:00 on the dot, but we have needed them. We have been really dry, and have had some bad fires near us, so I can't complain! Have a great trip!

I love the idea about saving money in the jar! Maybe if we eat Ramon noodles for the next year,and put what we spend in groceries in the jar, we will be all set for cruise time!!!!!

YEAH RIGHT!!!!!

Kim

kirk0414@aol.com

 

[JenKatt]

Originally posted by kaylin


I love the idea about saving money in the jar! Maybe if we eat Ramon noodles for the next year,and put what we spend in groceries in the jar, we will be all set for cruise time!!!!!

YEAH RIGHT!!!!!

Kim

kirk0414@aol.com

Jeff's been threatening the whole Ramen noodle thing, between the floor and our two cruises, but as a nurse I can't endorse that much sodium!

 

[moocow35]

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[RickW]

Originally posted by moocow35
Okay, please tell how you got that picture of the Magic in the canal? I am so amazed at the work that some people can do on the computer. I love it!

I never cease to be amazed by the power of Photoshop. The hardest part was finding a picture of a ship in the canal and a picture of the Magic from about the same angle. After that, it was just a simple matter of cutting the magic out of one picture and putting it in the other. My wife and I have done similar photo editing for pictures in the past, and we tend to pass the computer back and forth to each other, as there are some aspects of the photo editing that she is better at, and some things that I am better at.

 

[DisneyPinDiva]

good afternoon everyone!

Rick that picture is amazing! Ahh the wonders of technology... of which I am constantly amazed. Being technologically challenged, I am lucky I figured out (with MUCH help) how to get pictures and counters on here. I still haven't figured out how to get the counter on my desktop when I turn the computer on.

So I'm a bit lost here... the Magic is disembarking in San Pedro? Where is that? How far to DL? Does anyone know if they'll have a shuttle? Never gave all this too much thought obviously...

 

[kaylin]

Robin: We just bought 16+ acres in Suwanee county. It's across the street from a natural springs park and the Suwanee river. It's a beatiful area around where you will be. Our area is growing so much, and I commute to Naples for work, it's awful! We wanted somewhere a little slower and less crowded to move to hopefully in the next 5 years! Maybe we will someday be neighbors!!! There are several big cities close enough for jobs too! Or if your like me, just keep praying to hit the lottery!!!!!

Kim

 

[Scott H]

Peter, Thanks for the links, info has been sent.

Thanks to Jeff for the great job.

RickW, thanks for the Panamax size info. It will be a tight fit.

We just got back from a quick camping trip and I read the Lonely Planet Guide to Panama. Just the stuff about the Canal. If I did the math correctly converting from meters to feet, we will have 3.88 ft clearance on the beam and 18.2 ft on the length. Lots of other interesting stuff. Ships pay by weight the Crown Princes cost $14134.97 and Richard Hallibutron paid $0.36 in 1928 when he swam the canal. Enough of my Cliff Claven kinds stuff. I am awaiting the arrival of some more books from Amazon.

The area of the canal is steeped in Pirate history . Drake buried at sea off of Portabello and Morgan used the Rio Changres to make his approach to sack the first Panama City.

The guide indicated that May and June will be hot and muggy.

Jin, the public beaches on Curacao are great and so is the snorkeling and diving. We did not visit the Aquarium but it look great. A five bottle sampler was $18.00 US or $4-5 per small bottle sold separately.

While on Curacao we stayed at Sunset Waters, and only went into Willemstad for a few hours one afternoon.

Kim we have a lot just up the road from you on the Peace River, hope to move there in a couple of years or less.

 

[Hygiene99]

Disembarking the Ship in Cal...

Will be pain less as it takes very little effort to set up the disembarking procedure that Disney uses I HOPE....


Great picture Rick and WELCOME

The ennisb Family.... Great TRIP REPORT.....
Have u sent the info to Jeff to get on the list ???

Here is the link to the list...http://www.tiggerfan.net/canal/

 

[moocow35]

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[RickW]

Originally posted by moocow35
Rick, I will have to check out this photoshop. How talented you are! Can someone average like me figure it out?

Given that the full version of Photoshop is $650, it is probably not something that I would reccommend for the casual user. I have heard good things about Photoshop Elements, which contains many of the most common Photoshop features and only costs $99. (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopel/main.html) I probably wouldn't own Photoshop, except for the fact that my wife (danicaw on the DIS) as a graphic designer, has more of a need of high-end imaging software like that. I am just a techie with patience (so I can tweak things until they look right). It also helps that my wife knows how to use Photoshop better than I do, so if I don't know how to do something specific, I have someone to ask.

My wife put together this picture for her sig (she wanted something she could fit into a Mickey, so the pictures she had to work with were even more difficult to match up):

 

[kaylin]

Scott- The Peace River area is great. We go there often and rent canoes!

Well, another aggrevating week at work tomorrow! Hope everyone has a great week!

Kim
kirk0414@aol.com

 

[Scott H]

WOW Rick you guys are great with the Photoshop, very impressive.

Robin, the two books I ordered are Path Between the Seas and Panama Canal by Cruise Ship. Path Between the Seas, is reported to be the quintessential source about the building of the canal.

Kim we have a Sailboat Canal lot so when we get settled paddle on up. It is actually in Harbor Heights.

Oh I forgot here is a drink I developed whilst diving in Curacao: Funny the things you think of while diving. This concoction was thought up at the end of a nice long shore dive that ended at sunset. We named it Scotty's Sunset Surprise. Ended up being the drink of the evening for the next three nights.

OJ, Pineapple Juice, Rum, Yellow (Banana Flavor) Curacao liqueur, and then a splash of grenadine.

 

[moocow35]

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